Bordercrime
The female participation in (organized) crime and gender-based violence,
applied to the case study of Ciudad Juarez.
Bachelor Thesis
Name: Sanne Rooijakkers
Studentno: 3392678
Studyfield: Genderstudies
Supervisor: Marta Zarzycka
Amount of words: 6000-8000 (Final amount: 7336)
Subject: Female participation in crime and the gendering of violence
Index
Introduction
p. 3
Chapter 1: The Causes of the Rise of Female Crime
p. 3
Chapter 2: The Gendering of Violence
p. 5
Chapter 3: The Case-Study of Ciudad Juarez
p. 8
Conclusion
p. 13
Bibliography
p. 14
Introduction
Criminal behavior is mainly participated by men. Or, at least, this is the general
perception. Males are considered of showing more antisocial behavior than females.1
But since the 1980’s female participation in crime has been increasing. Various
criminologists have had different theories elucidating this phenomenon of men being
more present in (violent) crime than females and today’s changing gender differences in
participation. In criminal records there is a persistent increase of female arrests and
women are more and more involved in criminal activities. In for instance the Italian
Mafia and the Nigerian human trafficking market, women are found on ever more
prominent positions. However, the overall increase of female participation in crime
didn’t stop women from being less victimized. Women and children all over the world
are still more likely to be victims of sexual abuse, kidnap and human trafficking.
Prostitution is another specific aspect of (organized) crime where it’s usually females
who are victim.
The victimizing of women and children is part of today’s image of the gendering
of violence. Within the two feminist waves, Simone de Beauvoir wrote about females
being the Historical Other of males. De Beauvoir argued that the status of females is
hierarchical lower than that of men, ever since prehistory. This, according to de
Beauvoir is an universal truth, meaning that it’s applicable to all times and places.2 When
talking about violence, this gives women the unfavorable position. Speaking of physical
capacity, females will usually taste defeat when compared to men. FBI records of 2007
show that in relationship of victim to offender, within family relations, 32.4% of the
victims are the killer’s wife.3 But could this be changing since women are participating
more and more in (organized) crime? Could the fact that women are more capable of
violent behavior themselves count for a shift in the gendering of violence?
This theses will find an answer to this question. I’m going to start with question
what causes females to get involved in crime by outlining the theoretical framework of
feminism and crime, the different theories of feminist criminology taken into account.
Then there will be looked at the general gendering of violence and finally both previous
subjects will be applied to a case study. This is the case study of Ciudad Juarez, a town
direct on the border between the United States and Mexico. This town is said to have
‘Genderwars’, thus the gendering of violence is a prominent factor in. It’s location
between respectively rich and poor makes way for corruption, violence, crime and
abuse. This is a town of which the economy is in the hands of women, but not of women
in leading positions. The economy of Ciudad Juarez floats on the women in the (forced)
prostitution.4
Chapter 1: The causes of the rise of female crime
Traditional criminology
Ever since crime originated, it has been mainly practiced by men. In traditional
criminology, different theories attribute the causes of the lack in participation by women
Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter and Silva (2001) ‘Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour ‘ Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, p 1
2 Buikema and van der Tuin (2007) ‘Gender in media, kunst en cultuur’ Uitgeverij Coutinho, Bussum, p 22
3 Beirne and Messerschmidt (2011) ‘Criminology: A Sociological Approach’ Oxford University Press, New York, p 34
4 Coronado and Staudt (2005) Resistence and compromiso at global frontlines, University of Texas at El Paso p 140, via
http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=irasema_coronado
1
to the biological differences between men and women. Already in 1895 Lombroso and
Ferrero argued that there exist external deviations that make people more likely to
commit crime. These deviations are less present in females than in males. And
moreover, the women that do commit crimes have more similar appearances to males,
than to non-criminal females.5 Colleague scholars have found similar theories, all based
on comparable motives of biological differences in gender and for decades people have
believed in theories of this traditional criminologists. However, when the second
feminist wave occurred, some prominent feminists thought they should provide for
some alternative theories to gain a better understanding in female crime. This was the
time of the 1960’s till the 1980’s and parallel to the revival of feminism, a huge increase
in female participation in crime was ascertained. Various feminist scholars claimed to
have found explanations for the absence and presence of female appearance in crime
within feminist theory. They found the necessity to come up for feminism, since people
had bad connotations in regard to feminism.
Adler and Opponents in Feminist Criminology
Feminist opponents, such as Chesney-Lind, used this connotations to blame feminism for
different civil problems. Crime was one of those and since anti-feminist found no
resistance in their reasoning, the public bought their arguments.6 That was the time
when feminist scholars wanted to make changes to the feminist image. For instance
Freda Adler, who developed the ‘emancipation theory’. She argued that the increase of
female crime may ran in parallel to the revival of feminism, but that there was no such
thing as a cause-effect relation among the two. Feminism, according to Adler, brought
along possibilities for women to emancipate themselves. However, not for everybody.
Since the Second Wave primarily focused on the differences between men and women
and not so much on the differences among women themselves, quite an amount of
women felt left behind in the fight for equal rights. It was mainly the white, middleclass
female that benefited from second wave feminism.7 Adler argued, that the women who
were left behind, developed after the position of men in their own way, providing for
more possibilities for women to intervene in the world of criminality. This eventually led
to an increase of participation of women in criminological fields of white collar crime,
murder and robbery.8
Adler’s theory wasn’t well received among feminist colleagues. For various
reasons feminist scholars highly criticized her thinking. They didn’t agree on the fact
that feminism indirectly caused women to seek refuge in the world of crime. Pat Carlen
stayed more within the thinking of traditional criminologists such as Lombroso and
Ferrero, claiming that Adler’s new female potentials in crime were basically the women
that were always going to end up in crime. These were women with masculine features,
that based on biological similarities to males were more likely to follow a criminal path
and had nothing to do with feminism.9 Carlen wasn’t the only scholar who disagreed on
the role Adler addressed to feminism. Feminist writer Brown stated she thought Adler
provided for a disgrace to feminism. Brown strongly emphasizes on the positive effects
feminism brought to the visualization of female crime. According to her, feminism was
responsible for the reporting of female crime and therefore the cause for increased
Lombroso and Ferrero (1999) ‘The Female Offender’ Rothman Publications, New York
Chesney-Lind (1980) 'Rediscovering Lileth: Mysogyny and the 'New Female Criminality', in Griffiths and Nance
(eds.) The Female Offenders. Simon Fraser University, New York, p 15
7 Arneil (1999) ‘Politics of feminism’ Blackwell, Oxford, p 155-156
8 Adler (1975) Sisters in Crime, McGraw Hill, New York, p83-84.
9 Carlen (1983) Women's Imprisonment: A Study in Social Control, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, p 376-377
5
6
sentencing for women perpetrators. In addition to that she states that the degree of
sentencing (more severe penalties) she uses is more reliable source than Adler’s
statistical measures.10 Her critique can placed parallel to that of Beirne and
Messerschmidt, who argue:
“The second phase of feminist criminology 11 is extremely promising, in particular because of its
continuing critique of “malestream” criminology, its own theoretical diversity, its particular
varieties of feminist research methodologies, and its welcome inclusion of the study of
masculinities. But more importantly, second-phase feminist criminology embraces a social justice
perspective that demands we respect diversity; reject male-centered biases; … understand the
interconnections among gender, race, class, and age.” 12
They understand the profits gained in the knowledge of female crime, using two
directions of feminist theory. First the examination of how women are constructed in
and by particular discourses such as the law and second the explorations of women’s
actual lives and how their specific problems and responses to these problems influence
involvement in crime. In their book they use to example of Smart, who argues in her
book ‘Women, Crime, and Criminology: A Feminist Critique’ (1976) how specific law
provides for certain discourses that produce gender identities. She shows that law not
only constructs different types of women, but also establishes a difference between men
and women. 13 In another work Smart expresses her aversion on Adler’s theory, claiming
that Adler based her thoughts on scientific sources that are only pretences of the truth.14
At last, Chapman claimed a third reason for the increase of female participation in crime.
She claimed that female crime was in strong relationship with labor force participation
and that female participation in crime rose in times of economic crisis. This economic
misery had nothing to do with feminist influence and therefore the rise in female crime
had nothing to do with feminism. Chapman gave facts which showed the relation
between recovery of the economy and the simultaneous decrease of arrests. Where
Adler stated that female crime had everything to do with the liberation of women and
the possibilities this liberation gave, Chapman argued the more logical point of view,
that it was economical necessity that drove women into committing crime.15
Thus, among feminist scholars there is not yet found a consensus about the
influence of feminism on the increase of female participation in crime. Criminologists on
the other hand admit that these feminist contributions are very helpful to understand
the motives of the rise of female crime.
Chapter 2: The gendering of violence
Perpetrators and Victims
There is worldwide consensus on the masculine character of antisocial behavior.
Antisocial behavior is generally more participated by men than by women and therefore
rather associated with masculinity than with femininity. Also taken for granted is the
fact that men commonly express their antisocial behavior in violence and violent crime.
This might be clarified by the fact that males have greater muscular strength than
Brown (1986) 'Women and Crime: The Dark Figures of Criminology', Economy and Society, Vol 15, pp. 355-402.
Writer’s note: Second phase feminist criminology meaning the contemporary feminist contributions to criminology
from the late 1980’s to the present. (Beirne and Messerschmidt 2011)
12 Beirne and Messerschmidt (2011) ‘Criminology: A Sociological Approach’, p 214
13 Ibidem, p 210
14 Smart (1979) 'The New Female Criminal: Reality or Myth?', British Journal of Criminology, Vol 19, pp. 50-59. P 53
15 Chapman (1980) Economic Realities and the Female Offender, Lexington Books, Mass.
10
11
females.16 Ann Oakley supports this theory. She claims the patterns of male and female
crime are connected and structured by patterns of masculinity and femininity. This
means that the type and amount of crime committed by each sex express both gendertyped personality and gender-typed social role. In addition she explains the masculinity
of crime.
“Criminality and masculinity are linked because the sorts of acts associated with each have much
in common. The demonstration of physical strength, a certain kind of aggressiveness, visible and
external “proof” of achievement, whether legal or illegal- these are facets of the ideal male
personality and also of much criminal behavior. Both male and criminal are valued by their peers
for these qualities. Thus, the dividing line between what is masculine and what is criminal may at
times be a thin one.”17
While female crime has risen since the 1980’s, not only in white collar crime, but also in
violent crimes such as robbery and murder, this virile character of crime hasn’t changed.
The rise in female participation in crime didn’t evolve in females being less victim of
assault. Although females are getting more involved in crime as perpetrators, the female
victim rate didn’t decrease. Apparently there is no connection between the two. This
leads to the other aspect of gendered violence, the victims.
Gender-based violence
The high rates in violence targeted against females led the United Nations General
Assembly to declare the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in
1993. This in regard to "the urgent need for the universal application to women of the
rights and principles with regard to equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all
human beings".18 According to a report in 2000 of United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA) on State World Population, at least one third of all women suffer some kind of
violence, not rarely by someone familiar. Besides, one fourth of the women suffers
abusing during pregnancy.19 These are hard facts, emphasizing the problem that UNFPA
calls ‘gender-based violence’.
“Gender-based violence is an act that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual
or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary
deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. This type of violence affects all
types of women around the world, with no specific relation to race, class, ethnicity or age. Genderbased violence encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including the sexual abuse
of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls
and several harmful traditional practices. Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological
scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual
health and, in some instances, result in death.”20
Until recently the issue was considered a private matter, but since the 2003 consultation
in Rome it is recognized “as a human rights violation and a public health problem with
legal, social, cultural, economic and psychological dimensions.”21 However, because of
Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter and Silva (2001) ‘Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour ‘, p 4
Beirne and Messerschmidt (2011) ‘Criminology: A Sociological Approach’, p 206
18 United Nations, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, retrieved February 24 2010, via
"A/RES/48/104 - Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women - UN Documents: Gathering a body of
global agreements"
19 UNFPD, Report on: Addressing violence against women: piloting and programming, Rome, 15-19 September 2003,
via http://www.aletta.nu/aletta/doc/e-publications/2003/Addressing_VAW.pdf#search="gender violence", p 5
20 UNFPD, Report on: Addressing violence against women: piloting and programming, p 15
21 Ibidem
16
17
the domestic environment the violent behavior is acted in, women find difficulties in
opening up about their situation. This because of the strong relation between domestic
violence and shame and trauma, which should be recognized. Domestic (sexual) violence
causes women to become what Diken and Bagge Laustsen call “abject”, an object that
provokes disgust and is a threat to bodily and spiritual purity. It leaves the victim and
perpetrator, in this case respectively woman and man, in an unequal position towards
one another. The woman ends up feeling extremely disgraced and inferior, which is a
sign of a prior animal existence, threatening the human identity.22 This leaves women in
shame and the issue still covered in silence. Patriarchal power is one of the prime
targets in the fight against domestic violence. When male control of females is widely
accepted and culturally condoned, this leads to the legitimization of domestic violence.23
And when established, it is hard to get rid of such a system.
Organizations trying to gain attention for the issue, such as UNFPA collaborating
with governmental organizations, aim for solutions by lobbying for the establishment of
specific laws against gender-based violence. Despite all the efforts made by this
organizations, actual victim services are still a major flaw. Because of the complex
structure of (domestic) gender-bases violence it is difficult to address women directly
about it. Even though UNFPA works together with different women’s organizations,
women remain in condition of denial. This problem partly lies with health-care
providers. They don’t ask frequently enough about domestic violence, however the
symptoms sometimes are obviously there. Ranging from female infanticide to spousal
abuse, domestic violence can cause health problems such as injuries causing
undiagnosable pain, disabilities, disease, depression, eating disorders and anxiety.
Besides, it counts for some sexual and reproductive health problems such as difficulties
in pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, miscarriage and
maternal mortality.24
The effects of gender-bases violence don’t only impact the lives of the female
victims. Indirectly domestic violence has a negative impact on a woman’s functioning in
society. This ultimately leads to a negative influence on the economy, as the women’s
capabilities are forced down. Logically, people function best when being happy. In
addition, necessary but pricy adjustment measures are set up in terms of better medical
treatment and other victim services, as well as the formerly discussed improvements in
law enforcements and justice systems. Besides, as studies show, children living in
households containing domestic violence experience negative examples of a healthy
home environment, to such an extent that they are more likely to resort to violent
behavior when they become adults.
Women in Context
Based on the previous, one could argue that although women have faced a change in
terms of participation in crime, this didn’t specifically meant a change in the
victimization of women. The gendering of violence is still a controversial topic not only
for feminists and health organizations, but also for criminologists. Nevertheless, working
together made it possible to make a step forward in understanding females in relation to
crime and violence. However, the position in which women over the world live, differs
enormously. The gender-based violence spoken of before, is domestic violence. This kind
of violence happens all over the world, but in the West women nowadays are similar to
Diken and Bagge Laustsen (2005) 'Becoming Abject: Rape as a Weapon of War', Body Society, Vol 11, pp. 111-128
UNFPD, Report on: Addressing violence against women: piloting and programming, p 15
24 Ibidem
22
23
men. In some Third World countries this is of a whole other level. In criminology
scholars developed the strain theory, claiming that criminality is caused by psychic and
social strains. People can feel disadvantaged in their society compared to others and feel
the need to counterbalance for that. In order to gain the same successes as others in
their society, they turn to illegal ways of gaining money.25 In countries where wealth is
divided unequally, this is not uncommon behavior. Since wages are below average in
most Third World countries, people are easily tricked into corruption. In the following
chapter the theory of both previous chapters are applied in a case study of Ciudad
Juarez, a border town lying on the border between Mexico and the United States. One
will see Ciudad Juarez is a source of crime, with little respect to human life.
Chapter 3: Case Study of Ciudad Juarez
Introduction to Ciudad Juarez
Ciudad Juarez is a border town situated on the border between Mexico and the United
States. The city inhabits over two million people that either live on the Mexican or US
side of the border. Because of the different economical positions of the two countries,
this causes huge crime rates, specifically on the Mexican side of the border. The actual
political border is going through the city, but since there are different locations to cross
the border, Ciudad Juarez has become an important route for the smuggling of drugs.26
The northern side of Mexico is well known for its drugs cartels and drugs wars. Earned
wages differ hugely in amount comparing the US to the Mexican wages and this fact
combined with the presence of drug trafficking leads to a lot of corruption on the
Mexican border side. It is every police men’s intention to take care of his family the best
he can and this is not established with his regular income.
The presence of organized crime groups such as drugs cartels, comes with a high
rate of innocent killings. In this metropolis, over the last two decades, more than 300
girls and women have been murdered, of which most of them sexually abused before
killed.27 Ciudad Juarez is considered a dangerous and unhealthy domicile for everybody,
but specifically for women. Scholars claim the authorities can be held responsible for the
poor quality of life, since it has been twenty years since the killings have started and
practically none of the murders has been solved. Local authorities and public officials
cannot be trusted, because the only thing they care about is their own economical gain in
cooperating with the drugs cartels.
Female Employment
Ciudad Juarez provides for different work opportunities for both men and women. Most
apply for women, since female employees are cheaper than male. Women work on both
sides of the border in all kinds of jobs. The three main jobs for women are working in
maquiladoras, as a maid in El Paso (the American side of the city) or in the prostitution
sector. At least forty percent of the women earn money, either formally or informally.
Early studies in 1999 showed the average income of Hispanic women in different
working sectors. The average income for these women was 11,314 dollar. Obviously,
working in a maquiladora didn’t pay much, between 25 and 35 dollars a week. Maids
Beirne and Messerschmidt (2011) ‘Criminology: A Sociological Approach’, p 114-117
Zaitch (2002) ‘Trafficking Cocaine’ Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Hague
27 Coronado and Staudt (2005) Resistence and compromiso at global frontlines p 139
25
26
from Ciudad Juarez who looked over children and did housekeeping in El Paso report
making that same amount a day.28
The most accessible job for women in Ciudad Juarez is that of working in so-called
maquiladoras. These are (mostly) US-owned export-processing factories, facilitated by
de Mexican public policies. The maquiladora-system is established by capital investment
of American origin, lowering the tariffs and therefore creating cheap employment,
especially female. Since the start of this system three decades ago, Ciudad Juarez now
counts hundreds of maquiladoras, that, at their high point 2000, provided work for
250.000 workers, of which the majority is female.29 The maquiladora industry has
become more diversified throughout its history, which made some jobs are thought
appropriate for women, such as electronics, garment, coupon sorting. Other jobs, such as
working on car parts, are considered more male. The recruiting of the young females
goes through illustrated newspaper advertising that and the use of the feminine and
masculine linguistic forms of the Spanish language to state their gender preference.30
Another possible job for Mexican women is becoming a maid at the US-side of
Ciudad Juarez, El Paso. The Mexicanas doing this job are usually uneducated women in
desperate need for a job to feed their own children. This leads to become a maid in El
Paso. However the wages are more appealing then when working in a maquiladora, it is
also a more dangerous job. In the US-part of the city, the Mexicanas are basically illegal
immigrants. On the other hand, the catching of maids working illegally is not easy,
“because Border Patrols agents cannot enter houses without a search warrant, and no
magistrate will grant a warrant without strong evidence that the family employs an
undocumented maid. The evidence is lacking in most cases.”31 For most Mexican women
it is hard to leave their own children behind to go and take care of somebody else’s
children. Neighborhoods however, take care of the children as long as their mothers are
off working. Besides, Hochschild mentioned in her study on migrating women, that
women off to taking care of other children as their jobs, become more affected to their
foster-children than to their own. Nannies stated they give the foster-children what they
can’t give their own, that these children make them feel mother again and that they
spend so much time with these children, it is impossible to not alienate from their own
children.32
Besides the ‘proper’ jobs, the crossing border also helped turning the female
labor market into a sexual one. Prostitution in prohibited in the United States, but since
it is far more easy for North Americans to cross the border to Mexico than the other way
round, the Mexican authorities have provided Ciudad Juarez with a flourishing sex
market to attract wealthy Americans. Prostitution has become one of the most steady
income to the Mexican economy. This means Mexico is depending on women to maintain
a constant cash flow. This is established by the inferior status of the female citizens,
which are not even fully recognized as inhabitants. Moreover, the police and the policy
makers maintain the image of young women as disposable and negatively stereotyped.
Women’s predicament is maintained by the globalization of the male-dominated state.
The Mexican state will do anything to increase the female position and improve living
Fernández-Kelly (1983) For we are sold, I and my people: Women and industry in Mexico's frontier, State
University of New York Press, Albany, p 53-59
29 Coronado and Staudt (2005) Resistence and compromiso at global frontlines p 141
30 Fernández-Kelly (1983) For we are sold, I and my people: Women and industry in Mexico's frontier, p 53-59
31 Mendoza (2009) Crossing borders; Women, migration, and domestic work at the Texas-Mexico divide, University of
Michigan p 83
32 Hochschild (2005) ‘Love and Gold’, in Ricciutell (2005) For Women, Power and Justice: A Global Perspective,
Zed/Innana Books, London, Toronto
28
standards for women as long as that is threatening to the maquiladora system, which is
so crucial for its economy.33
Gender Wars and it’s Attention
The Mexican government and the female society don’t go along very well, since the
former is getting in the way of improving live standards to the latter. The Mexican
officials have been trying to adapt to globalization and world economies to achieve a
better competitive world market position, but its inhabitants haven’t been able to take
any advantage of that. And where Mexican women live in a male-dominated society, they
are likely to receive the least of the benefits. One could even argue the presence of
gender-bases violence is prominently visible in the region of Ciudad Juarez, since the
position of women as such bad, that male inhabitants and male foreigners are able to
abuse women without any consequence. This results in over 300 murder cases still
being unsolved. The economy of Ciudad Juárez is dependent on the maquiladora system
and for the maquiladora system it is dependent on his cooperation with US maquiladora
owners of which most of them are involved in some kind of criminal activity. For this
cooperation they are dependent on the prostitution sector which is mainly used by
Americans and for maintaining the prostitution sector they are dependent on the low
position of women, so that there are women to staff the brothels. The low position of
women results in the many killings of women, which could well have been carried out by
people who are border-crossers and this militates against their prosecution. So the
gender inequality is not contained by the porous character of the border, but expanded
by it. 34
In a study of Conorado and Staudt, to investigate this gender issue, they found the
gender-based violence which they called ‘Gender-wars’ prominent at different levels in
the US-Mexican society. There distinguish three levels in which the gender-based
violence is occurring. The first levels contains the overt, brutal violence against women,
for instance in the sexual abuse and later on killing of women, as that happens in and
near Ciudad Juarez, probably on the behalf of the drugs cartels. In the second level they
speak of the violence towards women in normalized, everyday violence, women have to
face in their daily lives in order to survive along with their families. This can relate to the
poor living standards of women and the scarce possibilities for them to find a regular
paid job. The third level, they argue, is the level that mentions the conflict between
female activists and the uninterested, male-dominated public system in Mexico.35 This
refers to the fact that that several activist organizations have shown their interest in
helping improve the living standards for people, especially women, in the Northern
region of Mexico. Spoken of the earlier mentioned murders, different NGO’s, among
them United Nations, Amnesty International and the Inter-American Human Rights
Commission, investigated the cases and found out that over hundred murders remain
unsolved because either a lack of interest of Mexican federal offices or, again, corruption.
Mexican federal officials objected this statement claiming to have conceded negligence
due to lack of resources and investigative or technical skills.36 The NGO’s are not the
only organizations that showed their interest in the matter. Also the media is important
aspect of the gaining of worldwide attention. One of the first widely disseminated
documentaries on globalized export processing, Lorraine Gray’s Global Assembly Line,
Ibidem
Coronado and Staudt (2005)Resistence and compromiso at global frontlines, p 140
35 Ibidem
36 Moreno, Unresolved murders of women rankle in Mexican border city, (December 16, 2005) Washington Post,
Washington.
33
34
was filmed on Mexico’s northern border and singer and actor Jennifer Lopez, being a
Latina herself, took on the role of Lauren Adrian, a journalist investigating a series of
murders near American-owned factories on the border of Juarez and El Paso.37
US Interference
It is not just the Mexican government that can be held responsible for the situation, the
United States is also part of problem. Practically all maquiladora owners are American
citizens, which take no blame for the mess they make. They just push off the instability
of Mexico to the presence of the drug cartels. Luis Gutierrez, senior vice president and
managing director of AMB Property in Mexico stated “violence in Mexico is an escalation
of the fight of drug cartels to gain control of certain markets to distribute to the US and
the most of the incidents are among those members.”38 In a way he is right, because the
presence of the drug cartels sure have a huge influence on daily life in this part of
Mexico, but that doesn’t mean his own company doesn’t contribute to the problem. He
and his company keep maintaining the system and therefore are as much part of the
problem as the drug cartels. As long as powerful people such as policy makers and
factory owners don’t realize that their contribution to the situation in the country counts
just as much as the drugs dealers, nothing will change for the habitants of the USMexican border region.
Moreover, not just the Mexican government, but also the US government should
take responsibility of the happenings in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. The difficulty here is
that they keep pointing fingers at the wrong people instead of taking care of the
situation. The owners of the maquiladora factories and the US government name the
issue a Mexican problem, so they keep themselves out of blame. The Mexican
government will never blame the US, because they might lose the system their economy
is depended on and they blame drug cartels, but nobody seems to get that blaming
somebody without doing something about it, will never solve the problem. The US
government is basically attacking the female body of the nation, since women are
considered more vulnerable than men in Ciudad Juarez’s male-dominated system.
Several scholar have placed women in the position where they mark the boundaries
between different (ethnic) groups or nations. Their bodies function as boundaries
through which different groups try to form their identity. “Women are no longer only
women, but the personification and symbol of a nation”.39 So in fact, since women are
the bearers of nationalistic cultures, the physical attack on women in terms of the
murders is an attack on Mexico as a nation is.
It seems like to only ones to be affected by this perilous situation are the
inhabitants of Ciudad Juarez, especially the women living there and the victims of the
unsolved and unnecessary murders. The low position of the women living in that area in
terms of class and gender seems the main reason why the phenomenon is occurring in
the first place and all the governments are seeming willing to do is maintain this
position, thus everything stays the way it is. The only response the habitants of Ciudad
Juarez get is help form NGO’s and other activist organizations, but level three of
Coronado and Staudt showed that that is one of the things the Mexican government
heavily fights. Therefore their attempt to apply political pressure into a change in the
IMDB on Bordertown, via http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445935/
(2011) Borderline, Site Selection Magazine, distributed January, via
http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2011/jan/mexico.cfm
39 Griffin and Braidotti (2002) Whiteness and European Situatedness, in: Thinking Differently. A study in European
Women’s Studies, Zed Books, pp. 220-236, p 229
37
38Arend
transborder strategies, had no impact and made no difference whatsoever40. Thus
Coronado and Staudt argue, that it is not the emancipation of women the government
aims for, but the increase of globalization to worldwide trading opportunities. And
women can’t stand in their way of getting it.
Female Participation in Drug Trade
As stated in the first chapter, female participation in crime has been increasing since the
1960s and feminist scholars do not have come to a consensus on the causes.
International drug trade however, is different from most other types of crime. When
looking at the participation of women in drug trade, a whole set of aspects should be
taking into account. Applied to the international drug trade, research has primarily
focused on men. Lisa Maher investigated the prevalence and role of women in the
international drug trade. She made a cluster-analyses regarding two opposing positions.
“From one perspective, women in the drug trade are powerless victims driven by
poverty and drug addiction. On the other, women are active actors driven by ambition
for money and independence, much like their male counterparts.”41 Maher, however,
states that these two perceptions are highly simplistic. In her research she displays the
multiple inequality such as gender, ethnicity and class reproduces in the drug trade.
The drug market in Middle and South America contains more than just the
transport and selling of drugs. Peru, Bolivia and Colombia are important countries for
the producing of cocaine. Different stages of the production take place in different
countries. Whereas the picking of the coca leaves and the cultivations happens mainly in
Peru and Bolivia, it is chiefly women that are employed to pick these leaves. In Bolivia,
where the leaves are sold, it is also mainly women that are responsible for selling the
leaves. These business, however, are considered traditional and legal. As for the illegal
part of the drug market, anecdotal evidence suggests that drug laboratories in cocaine
and heroin are more male dominated. Although women have been arrested following
raids on amphetamine and crack cocaine laboratories in the US, it is not clear whether
they were involved or merely present. Women are also involved in the illegal part of the
cocaine industry, in the roles of drug mules. Mules are the transnational transporters of
drugs. Although it is postulate that most drug mules are women, 60 to 70 percent of the
people arrested with drugs at the international borders are male. Also 70 percent of the
drug mules who seek medical attention for health problems concerning having
swallowed capsules of cocaine or heroin are men.42 However, the former example of
mules being arrested at the border could be influence by class justice. It is proven that
police and public officials (in the Netherlands) are selective in addressing criminals. Men
are more likely to be arrested than females, because they are considered more likely to
commit crime. Also for the United States this is true, because black males are most likely
to get arrested. Therefore the percentages stated before do not explicitly have to be a
representation of the true partition of gender regarding to mules.43
For the motives of mules (researched in Latin America and the Caribbean) it was
found that many were single parents, attracted to drug trade because of debts they
made. Thus, they are more likely to turn to the criminal path out for economical reasons
than because they want to do so. They see no other option. As for Julia Sudbury,
Coronado and Staudt (2005) Resistence and compromiso at global frontlines, p 140
Fleetwood (2011) ‘Drug trade’, in Zeiss Stange, Oyster and Sloan (2011) Encyclopedia of Women in Today's, Sage
Publications, California, p 428-430
42 Fleetwood (2011) ‘Drug trade’, p 428-430
43 Kat (2002) ‘Klassenjustitie in Nederland’, Nederlandsch Juristenblad, The Hague: Kluwer, vol. 77, afl. 32, pp. 16111613
40
41
neoliberal geopolitics have contributed to women’s participation in drug trafficking,
because these have affected women through the feminization of poverty. Nevertheless,
drug mules cannot be considered a homogenous group. Besides the women with debts,
other mules have claimed themselves to be entrepreneurs or independent traffickers.
Again, very little is investigated in this matter and again, it seems to be a maledominated world.44
In regard to the actual drug cartels in the Mexican part of Ciudad Juarez, women may be
involved in the drug trade at high level.
“Research from Argentina and Mexico suggests that women exercise power at high level indirectly
as wives, sisters, and mothers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women may hold the top
positions in some Mexican cartels. Females also can be found in a number of auxiliary roles
including recruiting and ‘babysitting’ mules while they travel; training and advising mules, hiding
money, drugs and weapons, keeping accounts, receiving packages, serving as brokers and
accompanying men as ‘covers’. Evidence from arrests suggests that women work in apparently
legitimate organizations where money is laundered. Girlfriends and wives may be arrested as
accomplices.”45
This gives a clear view on the participation of women in the cartels nearby the USMexican border. Although the participation can of women is absolutely there, it can be
elucidated by these women being closely related to a criminal in terms of relatives or
husbands. The role these women play should not be underestimated, as the example
shows they take care of a lot of important tasks connected to drug trade. On the other
hand, it should be taken into account that these women probably wouldn’t be taking
part in criminal business if it wasn’t for their criminal male relation. Even when holding
top positions, the women involved in the cartels aren’t likely to stand up for their female
counterparts inhabiting the region. Their interest is the economical gain they receive for
their lucrative business.
Conclusion
Because lack of proper investigation (yet), the world considers women in top positions
of organized crime an exception. As became clear, most of the criminal world is still
considered male-dominated. This gives the women in Ciudad Juarez little hope for quick
improvement of their living standards. In chapter one I showed the causes for increased
participation of crime considered by feminist scholars. They still don’t have reached a
consensus on why this increase occurred. There are two points of view from which one
could try to explain women’s participation in crime. On the one hand the focus on the
research on how women, in contrast to men, are constructed in society, specifically in
context to particular discourses. On the other hand, the actual lives of the women are
more taken into account. The focus there lies more on the specific problems and
responses in women’s lives and the influence this may have on involvement in crime.46
In the second chapter the understanding of violence against women was
explained and why there is not as much attention for it as should be. Besides, the
difficulties about dealing with this problem are exemplified. Then, in the third chapter,
the two previous chapters were applied to the case study of Ciudad Juarez, a bordertown
on the transnational border of Mexico with the United States. Here the horrible position
Fleetwood (2011) ‘Drug trade’, p 428-430
Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World Mary Zeiss Stange,Carol K. Oyster,Jane E. Sloan Drug trade. 428-430
46 Beirne and Messerschmidt (2011)’ Criminology: a sociological approach’ p 210
44
45
of women living in that area was exposed, along with the lack of interest on the behalf of
governments and public officials. Then the female participation in crime regarding to
drug trade and the Mexican drug cartels was discussed.
I would say, based on the previous, that the increased female participation didn’t
cause a change in the public thought on the gendering of violence. Females are still
considered the vulnerable sex and even when they are participating in crime it is mostly
out of economical reasons and reasons of unemployment than out of reasons of
emancipation and trying to overrule males. Speaking of the Mexican drug cartels, the
women involved can staff the higher positions, but this is basically because of either
absence of the male counterpart or because there is still high male supervision in terms
of male presence of a partner of a son. However, the notion of lack of research on female
participation in different areas of crime has come forward multiple times in this article.
Further research is definitely in demand. Also the Ciudad Juarez region shouldn’t be
forgotten. The more attention it gains, the more likely it becomes for its female
inhabitants to see changes being made. Maybe, within the next decennium, Mexican
women have followed the Western example of emancipation and are able to improve
their living standard.
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Justice: A Global Perspective, Zed/Innana Books, London, Toronto
Lombroso and Ferrero (1999) ‘The Female Offender’ Rothman Publications, New York
Mendoza (2009) Crossing borders; Women, migration, and domestic work at the TexasMexico divide, University of Michigan
Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter and Silva (2001) Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge
Siegel and Nelen (2008) Organized Crime: Culture, markets and policies, Springer Science
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Zaitch (2002) ‘Trafficking Cocaine’ Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Hague
Scientific Articles
Brown (1986) 'Women and Crime: The Dark Figures of Criminology', Economy and
Society, Vol 15, pp. 355-402
Coronado and Staudt (2005) ‘Resistence and compromiso at global frontlines’ University
of Texas at El Paso via
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vol. 77, afl. 32, pp. 1611-1613
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NGO Research Articles
United Nations, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, February 24
2010, via "A/RES/48/104 - Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements"
UNFPD, Report on: Addressing violence against women: piloting and programming, Rome,
15-19 September 2003, via http://www.aletta.nu/aletta/doc/epublications/2003/Addressing_VAW.pdf#search="gender violence"
Newspaper/Magazine Articles
Arend (2011) Borderline, Site Selection Magazine, distributed January, via
http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2011/jan/mexico.cfm
Moreno, Unresolved murders of women rankle in Mexican border city, (December 16,
2005) Washington Post, Washington.
Further Research
IMDB on Bordertown, via http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445935/